The Five Best Super Bowls Ever [VIDEOS]

The Super Bowl hasn’t always been so super. In fact, throughout the ‘80s and into the first half of the ‘90s many of the games were blowouts the likes of which are rarely seen during the regular season. We’ve had better luck with Super Bowls lately, and this year’s match-up between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers is about as even as can be. So maybe Sunday’s game will end up being a classic. But for now we can count down the five best Super Bowls ever played.

-- Contributed by Jeremy Taylor

5. Super Bowl XXV - New York Giants 20 Buffalo Bills 19

This battle of New York State will forever be remembered by the words “wide” and “right. It should be pointed out that the 47-yard field goal Bills’ kicker Scott Norwood famously missed as time expired was no gimme. Still, it ended up being the first in a long line of unfortunate events which resulted in the Bills losing an unprecedented four straight Super Bowls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCHZFwDCNyA

4. Super Bowl XIII - Pittsburgh Steelers 35 Dallas Cowboys 31

The Steelers had Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swan, Franco Harris and “Mean” Joe Greene. The Cowboys had Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett, Randy White and Ed “Too Tall” Jones. Super Bowl 13 was a star-studied affair between the two most storied franchises in the Super Bowl Era. And it lived up to its billing: A furious fourth quarter comeback by the Cowboys was cut short when Pittsburgh recovered an on-side kick in the game’s final minute.

3. Super Bowl XXIII - San Francisco 49ers 20 Cincinnati Bengals 16

As he embarked on a 92-yard, 11-play game winning drive that began with 3:10 left in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 23, San Francisco 49ers’ QB Joe Montana was so loose that he joked in the huddle about seeing the actor John Candy in the stands. John Taylor caught the final TD pass, and Montana forever cemented his legacy as “Joe Cool.”

2. Super Bowl XLII - New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14

The Patriots, who came into Super Bowl 42 undefeated and 12 point favorites, pulled ahead of the Giants 14 to 10 with 2:42 left in this seesaw game. That turned out to be plenty of time for the Giants to march right back down the field and claim the game for good. The key play on the Giants’ 83-yard, game-winning drive was an improbable helmet-aided 32-yard catch by little-used wide receiver David Tyree.

1. Super Bowl XXXIV - St. Louis Rams 23 Tennessee Titans 16

In what was surely the most dramatic final play in Super Bowl history, Rams linebacker Mike Jones tackled Titans receiver Kevin Dyson a couple inches short of the end zone as time ran out. If Dyson had had slightly longer arms, Tennessee would have capped an impressive comeback, and forced the first ever Super Bowl overtime. Because of Jones’s tackle, the storybook worst-to-first season of the Rams -- and a grocery-bagger-turned-league-MVP named Kurt Warner -- ended in victory.